China tossed blame back at Vietnam on Thursday over collisions of their ships around a giant oil rig deployed by Beijing in contested waters in the South China Sea as activists in Vietnam called for protests against the northern neighbor amid spiraling tensions.

Countering Hanoi's accusations that Chinese vessels had

intentionally rammed Vietnamese coast guard ships patrolling the area near the rig, China's foreign ministry said it was Vietnamese ships that had slammed Chinese ones and blamed Hanoi for the "provocations."

At the same time China also opened the door for talks on the issue, as Japan and the United States warned both sides to reduce tensions and urged China to clarify its claims to the territory. More ...

Copyright (c) 2014, Radio Free Asia. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Asia